The cartoonist did not think it necessary to spell out what was troubling the young unmarried doctor who would undoubtedly know that he is a desirable ‘catch’. Both young ladies are insisting that he should share her hymnbook. What can he do? He can’t share with both of them. He knows very well that while he can please one he will annoy the other, and more importantly her mama. Which mama is the more influential in the neighbourhood? It rather looks as though he is steadfastly looking at neither. That won’t help him. Now he is going to annoy both mamas.

He should have made sure that he had got hold of a hymnbook before entering his pew.

Mr Cantwell is giving sound advice. The ark won’t have to be put away in the toy cupboard on a Sunday.

This kind of thing lingered on for a long time. I remember on holiday seeing swings chained up in a municipal playground on a Sunday. This would have been in the 1970s in either Devon, Cornwall or Dorset.

The clothes worn by the ladies are not at all Victorian but the language used by the female onlooker is still very Victorian. The less judgmental comment of her husband gives her the punch line of the joke. The term ‘woman with a past’ does not properly describe what she intended to mean. It was the nearest polite expression to what was really in her mind.

Punch is also famous for its political cartoons which sometimes assumed the importance of a leading article in The Times. Dropping the Pilot is probably the most celebrated.

Bismarck had been the architect of German unity. Before the unification there had been quite a number of German sovereign states: a few relatively large and many small. In 1871 he had united them all (with the exception of Austria) into a new state of Germany and the kings of Prussia had become German Emperors.

By 1890 a new Emperor, Wilhelm, no longer accepted Bismarck as the man behind the scenes. Wilhelm was determined to run Germany without the advice of the Iron Chancellor. The cartoon shows Bismarck departing with dignity while the young emperor looks on. The ex-chancellor shows signs of his age: he needs both hands to steady himself while walking down the steps to a waiting boat. The young emperor in military uniform with his crown on his head looks on enigmatically.

As Queen Victoria’s oldest grandson Wilhelm attracted a great deal of attention in Britain and at that time not at all hostile. It is by no means clear that this cartoon is criticising the Kaiser. But the future of Germany is certainly being viewed with great interest.